The Subtleties of Growing Up
by SkyGem
Summary: When Tsuna and the rest of his guardians move to Italy after graduating high school, Lambo is left behind in Japan with Nana, to grow up in safety and have a normal childhood. But what happens when the one doing the protecting is the one he needs most to be protected from. No pairings.


"MAMAAAA"!

Sawada Nana looked up from the book she had been reading to see her ward running towards her, tears in his big, brilliant green eyes.

"Oh my," she exclaimed, startled, when he jumped into her lap and wrapped thin arms around her, his head buried in the crook of her neck.

"...Lambo-chan? What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked, running a hand through his soft, curly black hair.

"I-Pin is being mean to me!" he wailed, his voice slightly muffled against the fabric of her shirt, and Nana felt the worry suddenly drain out of her.

It was just a silly argument.

Thank goodness.

She'd been worried it was someting serious.

Sighing, she pulled away from him a bit, prying his tiny hands away and taking his face in both hands, gently wiping his tears away with her thumbs.

"Come on, Lambo-chan. It's alright," she soothed. "Come on, sweetie. Boys aren't supposed to cry."

Immediately, the last of Lambo's cries stopped, and he looked at his mama with wide, shocked eyes.

"You're already eight years old," continued Nana, smiling sweetly at him. "You're a big boy now, you know. And big boys don't cry."

Lambo was still shell-shocked.

He pulled his hands into his lap, fidgeting unsurely.

Nana, oblivious to his sudden uncertainty, ruffled Lambo's hair.

"See? There's a good boy! Now why don't you go make up with I-Pin-chan, hai?"

Lambo nodded, his gaze cast down, and hesitantly got up to head to the other room. He looked back once before leaving, the expression on his face lost and uncertain.

He was used to being comforted in situations like these, and getting a candy to make him feel better.

Why was it different this time?

* * *

Lambo stood in the doorway of the kitchen, clutching his test paper in his hand and blinking back the tears.

It was covered in red marks, and the big red 67 in the top corner seemed to be mocking him.

He had known he wouldn't be getting very high marks on this particular test, after he'd had so much difficulties with it, but he had never expected to get quite such a low mark.

"Ara? Lambo-chan?" asked Nana when she saw him. "What's wrong?"

Lambo didn't look up.

He just held out his hand with the crushed test paper in it.

Nana took it from him with a gentle hand, and there was a moment of relative quiet as she uncrumpled it, and her eyes roved over the paper.

The mark itself wasn't actually all that bad, especially considering some of the tests that Tsuna had brought home.

But Lambo was usually a very good student, with marks in the nineties, and Nana had hoped that maybe he wouldn't turn out like her dame Tsu-kun.

She sighed, and there was disappointment in her voice, and Lambo felt his body stiffen in embarrassment that he had caused his mama to be disappointed in him.

"Lambo-chan, you need to pay more attention in class," she said in a soft voice.

'_But I do pay attention!' _thought Lambo, but he bit his tongue, not wanting to talk back.

"And if you don't understand anything, you need to ask for help," continued Nana, scolding him lightly, and this time, rather than embarassed, Lambo was frustrated.

Because he _had_ asked her for help.

But she had just brushed him off, saying that it was something he should know already.

What was he supposed to do when his guardian didn't even answer his questions properly?

* * *

"Lambo-kun!" exclaimed Nana in a startled voice when she saw the nine-year-old walk through her front door.

He was scratched and bruised all over, and seemed to be on the verge of tears.

But he didn't cry.

His school uniform was absolutely filthy, and he was clutching his cow horns tightly in his hands.

"Just look at you!" she said, going up to him and trying to straighten him up a bit. "I know that you boys like to play rough, but there is a limit young man!"

Lambo didn't say anything to this, merely nodding and looking down at the horns he was holding.

He didn't tell her how some older kids had seen him wearing them and had begun making fun of him for doing such a stupid thing.

He didn't tell her how he'd lost control of his anger and had attacked them.

He didn't tell her of how he'd been so close to beating them, until they had called some friends and the five of them had ganged up on him and had tried to take the horns from him and throw them out.

But they had been a present from his Tsuna-nii, as a replacement for his old, battered ones. And there was no way he was going to let those stupid bullies take them from him.

So he had clutched onto them for all he was worth, and when the bullies had finally gotten bored and left him, he was lying on the ground, curled protectively around his treasure.

"You be more careful not to get your uniform dirty next time, okay young man?" said Nana, still blissfully unaware.

And Lambo nodded, bowing his head and biting his tongue so he wouldn't say anything to make his mama worry.

Even if all he really wanted right then was a hug and for someone to make everything better.

He wanted his Tsuna-nii.

* * *

Sawada Tsunayoshi sat in the living room of his childhood home, impatiently waiting for his little brother to arrive home from school.

He didn't quite know why he was here, why he needed to see Lambo so badly.

All he knew was that for the past few days, his hyper intuition had been bothering him.

It wasn't so much that he felt danger.

He knew that his mother and his young siblings were all safe.

It was more like there was an itch beneath his skin that he just couldn't get at.

Something that nagged at him and wouldn't let him concentrate on his work.

After a few days of him being completely absent-minded and making continuous silly mistakes, Reborn had gotten fed up and had kicked him out of his office, telling him to not come back until he had everything sorted.

And so, with his tutor's blessing, Tsuna was left to try and figure out what the source of his problems was.

Now that he was finally paying attention, it was almost as if there were a string tugging him in the right direction - in the direction of Namimori.

A string connected to his lightning guardian.

And when the front door of the Sawada residence flew open and Lambo stepped in, Tsuna felt worry grip at his heart like a vice.

There was something deathly wrong here.

His precious, loud, boisterous little brother was so different.

So uncertain and nervous.

He seemed to have almost hunched in on himself, as if he were trying to protect himself from the world.

And those uncertain eyes were so painfully familiar, Tsuna felt his heart cry out in sympathy and pain.

"Lambo," he said, getting up, and there was a sudden transformation.

Lambo's eyes a lit on his big brother, and it was like clouds parting to let the sun shine through.

"Tsuna-nii!" he cried, a wide smile on his face, and he rushed into his brother's hug.

And Tsuna let out a little huff of relief.

It was alright.

Lambo was still alright.

For now.

But the desparation with which he held onto Tsuna wasn't alright. The way he seemed to almsot want to melt into the embrace.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

And Tsuna didn't even have to think, didn't have to consider.

He knew what he had to do.

"I'm here to take you home."

* * *

SkyGem: The end! Well, that was a rather heavy little one-shot. This was both easy and difficult for me to write in that the words came to me easily as I wrote. Almost as if it were all just already finished and waiting for me to get it down on "paper". But at the same time it was difficult because it's sad, seeing Lambo change under Nana's emotional abuse. Because that is exactly what it is. She doesn't realize just how much she's hurting him with her words, just like I'm sure she didn't realize that a large part of the reason Tsuna grew up so "dame" was because he didn't get the support he needed from his mother. It was a good experience, exploring these circumstances, and I hope you all like this fic. Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought, yes?


End file.
